'I hope my son jumped from balloon'

THE father of the youngest man killed in the hot-air balloon tragedy in New Zealand says he hopes his son and girlfriend were the pair who jumped - rather than burning to death in the basket.

Chrisjan Jordaan, 21, and his girlfriend Alexis Still, 19, were on board the balloon which caught fire and plummeted to the ground in Carterton on Saturday.

A man and a woman reportedly jumped or fell from the basket before it was completely engulfed in flames and Chrisjan's father, Jan, hopes they were his son and Alexis.

"The thought of my son burning alive is bad, man, very, very bad.

"On the internet it said he and Alexis jumped out, but the police said they can't confirm it. I hope he didn't burn to death, it would have been a very, very horrible death.

"I try to block it out but it still comes, the thought of it. To hear what happened was unreal, it's still unreal."

Mr Jordaan and his wife, Annie, were yesterday travelling to Wellington from their home in Southland, where he is a dairy farmer and she is a teacher, to make funeral arrangements and to visit the site of New Zealand's worst aviation tragedy since the 1979 Mt Erebus disaster.

"Because the bodies are not yet identified, officially, we're not sure what to do for the funeral," he said.

Chrisjan bought the balloon-flight ticket for Alexis last year. They had tried to go twice previously, but those flights were postponed because of poor weather. They were hugely excited when the weather forecast for Saturday was good.

Mr Jordaan suspected his son was very much in love with Alexis.

"But he promised no marriage before his studies were finished."

Alexis lived at home with parents Vivienne and Allan Still and sister Emma, 24. Brother Ben, 22, flats in Wellington.